Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-30

upon leaving UOWu, WIS given laTeWeli
ball by his fellow workmen. 1t was when
the Democrats of Monroe county made
Hiram Sibley sheriff in 1913 that he first
came before the public. Three years before
he had been in Washington, at the time Prof
Morse was trying to get hearing before
congress. Morse would, perhaps, have failed
in getting that hearing, but for Hiram Sibley.
That was Mr.. Sibley's first identification
with telegraphy. His second was its saliva
ton, for telegraphy was financial failure
until Hiram Sibley consolidated the many
conflicting lines into the grand federation
called the western Unon"--a scheme he
established almost alone and against great
opposition and ridicule. He was the origina-
tor of the Western Union, and for sixteen
years its president. Under his management the
value of the property increased from $3.50, OO0
to $4S,000,000. Ten years in advance of the
railroad he individually contracted with the
government to build a telegraph limo to Cali
fcrnia, saying (when neither the Western
Union nor the American Telegraph Associa-
ton would approve of the scheme), every
well, then, gentlemen; I'll go it alone" The
Western Union finally took hold with him.
and the line across "the wild Rockies" was
completed in four months and eleven days,
although the contract allowed two years. 1t
was the most profitable line ever known
When the contract expired the government
was in debt to the Western Union to the
amount Of $91, 900, which "the great monop-
oily" relinquished and made gift to the
nation.
The Russian Overland telegraph was an
other stupendous project with Hiram Sibley
at its head, and but for the success of the At
lantic cable, when the world had lost faith in
long submarine cables and was demanding
telegraphic communication between the old
and the new worlds, the Russian or Collins
line had been the grand achievement of the
century. The Overland was not far from
success when the first message "by cable"
gave it its death blow
When the rebellion was subdued we find
Hiram Sbley making large and varied i'll
vestments at the South. When the Mississip-
pi valley was devastated by flood he gave
$4,000 wc"'h Ct s"e's attendi,r to the ship
ling individually, as great dispatch was
needed to secure any return from the land
that year. Hiram Sibley's executive ability
had as fair an illustration, in the transporta-
ton and distribution of the seeds, as it ever
lad in the gigantic schemes of telegraphy.
Thousands of acres were enriched, and thou
iands of impoverished fed, by his knowing
ust how to do thing promptly and success
ully. ..'..-
He has had much to do with railroad build
ing, particularly in the south. At Saginaw,
Michigan, we find him investing in lumber
md salt, in the Lake Superior region in land,
while, as a farmer, he heads the list. He
OWNS and cultivates the largest farm in the
state of New York-3,500 acres-in Cayuga
county, and by his admirable science of
drainage, has reclaimed hundreds of acres of
worthless swamp "Montezuma Marsh" will
disappear in time, it is prophsied, and that
largely because of projects of Hiram Sibley
The catalogue Of his great farms is long
one. One Of them is the largest cultivated
farm in the world-4O, 900 acres-the Barr
Oaks farm, 100 miles south of Chicago The
Sibley College of Mechanic Arts, of Cornell
University, was magnifcently endowed by
him. Also, Sibley hall, the library of Roch-
ester University. His requests have been
many, and this city is, perhaps, more indebt-
ed to him than to any other citizen for her
financial prosperity. Many of her wealthy
men became such through his projects. The
original stockholders Of the Western Union
were all Rochester men, and to subtract the
Gain to the city from that source would
make a marvellous change
Hiram Sibley is still the director of his
business projects, going to his office with his
characteristic regularity, but that time in his
life has come when he enjoys a good game of
euchre within his most hospitable home even
more than building telegraph in the Arctic
regions, or going it alone" across the Rock
les. JANE MARSH PARKER